Púsà jiè gāngyào chāo 菩薩戒綱要鈔
Compendium of the Essential Outline of the Bodhisattva Precepts Anonymous
About the work
A single-fascicle systematic compendium of the bodhisattva precept tradition organized as 32 sub-topic headings, anonymous, surviving with no preface or colophon but containing an internal statement that the work “follows exclusively the legacy of the Kōshō Bosatsu (專守興正菩薩遺風)” — i.e. Eison 叡尊 (1201–1290, see 叡尊), whose posthumous title 興正菩薩 was conferred in 1300. The work is therefore a Saidai-ji 西大寺 school compendium, designed as an introductory précis of the school’s doctrinal position on the Bodhisattva precepts.
Abstract
Authorship and date: No author is named in either source (T74N2358B) or catalog (CANWWW; the Taishō register simply leaves the field blank). The internal phrase 興正菩薩遺風 (“legacy of the Kōshō Bosatsu”) establishes a terminus post quem of 1300 (the year Emperor Go-Fushimi conferred the posthumous title on Eison). The work’s structural similarity to KR6t0055 of 1308 and its dependence on the 應理宗戒圖 of Eison (= KR6t0054) suggest it was composed within the same Saidai-ji circle in the early 14th century, though a somewhat later medieval date cannot be excluded. notBefore = 1300, notAfter = 1450 is conservative.
The work’s structure is exhaustive: 32 headings arrayed as a chart at the opening of the work, then expounded in sequence under ten sub-divisions: (1) the transmission of the precepts through the three lands (India → China → Japan) — sān-guó chuán-lái; (2) the outlines of the various precept-sets; (3) the essence-substance of the various precepts (jiè-yè-tǐ); (4) the discrete-and-universal ordination procedures (tōng-bié shòu-fǎ); (5) sāṃvara precepts; (6) kuśala-dharma precepts; (7) sattva-anugraha precepts; (8) the practical-aspect of discrete reception; (9) the poṣadha of discrete-and-universal reception; (10) questions-and-answers.
The opening section on the transmission to China is historically interesting. Citing the Fǎ-yuàn zhū-lín 法苑珠林 of Dàoshi (sec. 89) and the Gāo-sēng-zhuàn tradition of Qí dynasty Vinaya master Shàngtǒng 尚統法師, the text records: “In the early Han Míng-dì reign, the appearance of Mātaṅga and Dharmaratna — only these two persons. When they first arrived, they could not perform the upasaṃpadā; they only gave Dharma-and-laypeople tonsure, robed them in the 縵條 (single-bordered patched robe), and bestowed the 5 and 10 precepts.” The work then notes the first proper precept-ordination at Báimǎ-sì (presumably under Dharmakāla in the Cáo-Wèi). This historical sketch is followed by parallel sub-sections on the transmission of the bié-shòu, the ten infinite precepts of the Brahmajāla, and the three-aggregate-precept (sān-jù-jiè).
The text closes with an explicit cross-reference: “To unfold this division fully one must master the Yīnglǐzōng jiètú [chart of the Yogācāra Vinaya school] and the accompanying běnwén shìwén chāo [the present subcommentary on the chart’s text]*.” This is a direct reference to KR6t0054 (Eison’s commentary on the chart) and reinforces the work’s identification as a Saidai-ji school product.
Translations and research
- No complete Western-language translation located.
- Lori Meeks, Hokkeji and the Reemergence of Female Monastic Orders in Premodern Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2010), for the Saidai-ji school context.
Other points of interest
The text’s organization around 32 numbered headings parallels KR6t0055 (also 32 headings); the two works are likely sister-compendia for catechetic use within the Saidai-ji branch-school network. The opening transmission narrative is a notable witness to the Japanese historiographic memory of the early Han-period Buddhist transmission as preserved in the Shingon-Risshū tradition.